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Yandex Concerned About Proposed Russian Right To Be Forgotten Law

Global Marketing News – 19th June 2015

Yandex concerned about proposed Russian right to be forgotten law

Yandex has raised concerns about a proposed “right to be forgotten” law in Russia.

The Russian government unveiled plans for a “right to be forgotten” law earlier this week, which would allow Russians to ask search engines to remove links to webpages that are more than 3 years old or contain “unreliable” information about them, if these links appear when searching for the individual’s name.

Under the proposed law, which could come into effect as soon as January next year, search engines would be required to comply with these requests within 3 days or face a fine of 3 million rubles, equivalent to 55,000 US dollars.

Yandex’s concern comes from the fact that individuals will not have to submit any “evidence or justification” with their link removal request, raising fears that the law could be misused.

This latest move is the latest in a string of new measures brought in by the Russian government in an attempt to tighten control over the internet.

Last year, the Russian government brought in a law requiring bloggers with more than 3,000 daily readers to register their real identities with the authorities, and from September companies with Russian customers will be required to store their data on servers within Russian borders.

EU launches anti-trust investigation into Amazon

The EU has opened an anti-trust investigation into Amazon e-books, over concerns that the company is forcing publishers to accept illegal contracts that discourage competition between e-book vendors and ultimately lead to less choice for customers.

Speaking about the Amazon investigation, the European Commission said that its purpose was to “ensure that Amazon’s arrangements with publishers aren’t harmful to consumers, by preventing other e-book distributors from innovating and competing effectively with Amazon.”

The investigation will initially focus on English and German-language e-books, which are the most popular languages for Amazon e-books sold in the EU.

Amazon has also been accused of illegal tax practices, an allegation the company strongly denies.

Amazon has that it will cooperate with the European Commission’s investigation, and has said that it is confident that it is not guilty of any wrongdoing.

Mobile TV market growing rapidly in South Korea

The mobile TV market is growing rapidly in South Korea.

The number of people in South Korea using their smartphones to access TV content is estimated to be around 6 million, around 13% of the internet population in the country.

In response to this growing industry, the 3 main mobile service providers (SK Telecom, KT, and LG U+) have all released mobile TV services, and the 2 main search engines in South Korea have announced that they are developing their own mobile TV content services as well.

Naver will be launching Play League later this year, a platform that will allow users to upload, share and watch videos.

Daum Kakao will be launching a mobile TV service, with Kakao TV due to go live later this year. Three major Korean broadcasters have said that they will be working with Kakao TV to help their content reach a wider audience.

Baidu buys stake in Japanese ad company popIn

And finally, Baidu has bought a stake in the Japanese online advertising company popIn.

PopIn owns a service called READ, which helps to target adverts at users based on content they have clicked on the past.

The technology is used by Facebook to suggest content when a user clicks on a post in their news feed.

It is thought that Baidu will use the technology to improve the targeting of its adverts on mobile devices, with the search giant saying that it hopes the technology will boost its international advertising revenue.

Baidu is the most popular search engine in China, where it has around 60% of the search engine market share. It is also trying to expand internationally, and has recently been turning its attention to the Brazilian, Egyptian, Thai and Indonesian markets.

Gemma Houghton

Gemma has been working in international search for 6 years and leads Webcertain's marketing team. As well as managing Webcertain’s global online and offline marketing activities, she also organises and programs WebCertain's International Search Summit, a search marketing conference focusing on international and multilingual online marketing and contributes regularly to the Webcertain blog. She has also spoken at conferences such as SES and SasCon and writes regularly for State of Digital. Gemma holds a Professional Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a BA Joint Honors Degree in French and German.